News

Prime minister Boris Johnson has been accused of undermining the rule of law after claiming left-wing “legal eagles” were trying to thwart his plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda. I. Stephanie Boyce, president of the Law Society, said it was "misleading and dangerous for the prime min

More than 500kg of cocaine worth in excess of 50 million Swiss francs (€48m) has been found in a container of coffee bean bags bound for Nestle's Nespresso factory in Romont in western Switzerland. Police were told on Monday by Nespresso that staff had found a white substance while unloading th

A solicitor has called for period payment order (PPO) legislation to be revised to link payments to wage inflation rather than consumer prices. David O'Malley, a partner at Callan Tansey Solicitors, made the call outside the High Court after judges approved a third interim payment to his client Ruby

European law firm Fieldfisher has announced plans to double the size of its Belfast office's graduate legal professional programme following the successful completion of the scheme's first year. All five inductees in the scheme's first programme, run in partnership with the University of Law, secure

Irish barrister Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh, who practises in London, has been shortlisted for Barrister of the Year at The Lawyer Awards 2022. Ms Ní Ghrálaigh, who was interviewed as our Lawyer of the Month in February, is a human rights and international law specialist with a b

Information to assist bereaved families involved with the inquest process has been published by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. The new Information Note on the Rights of Families at Inquest gives families a road-map of the existing law, standards and procedures that apply at inquests

The Law Reform Commission has launched an annual access internship aimed at promoting wider access to entering the legal professions. Following a successful pilot in 2021, the law reform body said it had decided to play a part in widening access by running the internship, open to final year law stud

The UK Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal in a high-profile case aimed at preventing the prescription of puberty-blocking drugs to transgender children under the age of 16. In Bell v Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, lawyers for Keira Bell – a woman who said she regretted taking pubert

A round-up of human rights stories from around the world. Latin American feminists vow to protect abortion rights at home after shock US ruling | The Guardian

Plans to introduce a disregard scheme for the historic convictions of gay and bisexual men prior to the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1993 will go out to consultation in the coming weeks. A working group made up of government officials, gardaí, human rights experts and LGBT+ community

Jenny Ahern has joined corporate and commercial law firm LK Shields Solicitors as its new head of banking and finance. Previously a partner with Mason Hayes & Curran LLP, Ms Ahern is a corporate banking specialist with extensive experience in dealing with domestic and cross-border transactions i

The Irish Prison Service has announced plans to lift a number of Covid-related restrictions from Monday. Infection control screens will be removed from physical visiting booths and physical contact between prisoners and visitors will be permitted in line with Prison Rules.

The first of our new regular round-up of deals involving Northern Ireland law firms. Submit your deals to newsdesk@irishlegal.com. Tughans has advised Vyta, a leader in the fast-growing IT asset disposition (ITAD) market, on both its significant investment from private equity firm MML Growth Capital

Finance lawyer Séamus Ó Cróinín has been named as the next chair of A&L Goodbody LLP (ALG). Mr Ó Cróinín will succeed Eileen Roberts, a partner in the firm's disputes and investigations group, following her successful three-year term in the post.

Reforms to remove legal exemptions to give live-in domestic workers access to the minimum wage are important but will be difficult to enforce because of Britain’s immigration rules, according to a new study. People who live and work in private households have been excluded from minimum wage re